


To Happiness

by ratchetzelda



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Background Emma Swan/Regina Mills, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-18
Updated: 2018-02-18
Packaged: 2019-03-20 19:51:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,958
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13724781
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ratchetzelda/pseuds/ratchetzelda
Summary: Dragon Hook. Emma and Regina have moved on together, leaving Killian and Maleficent behind. They build a friendship, that one night, turns into something more.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Feel like I need to add a little note here. I love Dragon Queen. I love Swan Queen. I ship Captain Swan. Like...I respect all ships! However this angsty little plot popped into my mind and I had to run with it!

When she came back to Storybrooke — back to _life_ — Maleficent wasn’t quite sure how to act around Regina. The woman she loved. The mother of her child. She had moved on.

 

There was history between them. A lot of it of course. And it had been years since they’d been together — _literally_ in another life. Maleficent understood how she had moved on, and she knew all the reasons why. Yet she didn’t know why it made her feel so sad.

 

When she came back, Regina was more like the young Queen she’d once fell for. She wasn’t evil. She wasn’t cruel or calculating. She was no longer hell-bent on revenge.

 

She was a _hero_.

 

A hero who had fallen in love with The Saviour.

 

A hero who had built a life, and a family, with another woman. 

 

She tried not to feel too jealous about that, since their Lily was all grown now, and rather _uninterested_ in knowing either of her parents very well.

 

Everything would take time to _adjust_ to, and as a dragon who had lived for the better part of five hundred years, with a new life under her belt, she had _stacks_ of it.

 

Killian Jones however, he was a _very_ different story.

 

They’d built a mutual understanding of sorts. A _friendship_. Maleficent vaguely remembered him from the old world — the infamous Captain Hook — and admittedly liked the idea of how much treasure he may have accumulated. 

 

He pined for Emma. Longed for her. But like Maleficent he could never have the one he loved.

 

It seemed almost natural for the two of them to meet. Killian liked rum, and Maleficent was partial to whiskey. Their friendship began in a bar, and blossomed in a bar as well. Every Friday night they met for drinks,. Whoever would have thought they’d get along so well?

 

Like any other Friday Maleficent entered The Rabbit Hole — one of Storybrooke’s only bars — to find Killian sitting at what had become their table. Right in the corner where they didn’t seem to be disturbed.

 

She spotted Leroy and his friends, along with a few other regulars. They no longer batted an eyelid to the big bad dragon, drinking with the pirate.

 

“Been waiting long?” She asked, eying the glasses on the table suspiciously. There were a couple of empties there — he didn’t normally start without her.

 

“Aye’ suppose — came here early. Had a little run in with Swan today.”

 

He seemed sad, though Mal understood he’d _never_ admit it — neither would she. They both seemed to _get_ that though. Neither of them pushed the other, unless it was wanted.

 

“Well I’m going to get a scotch — same again?”

 

He nodded graciously. Mal noticed he slung back his drink as she turned and walked to the bar. As much as she liked a drink, and as much as she knew Killian could handle it, tonight wouldn’t end well if he kept going like that.

 

She ordered herself  a double whiskey, and brought Killian his rum along with a glass of water.

 

“What’s that love?” 

Maleficent sat opposite him, setting the three glasses down on the table. She raised an eyebrow.

 

“Incase things get messy,” she tried to sound like she didn’t care about him so much, but she _had_ grown to care.

 

He seemed to accept that and thanked her in turn.

 

She shrugged — she couldn’t get attached to him, even though she already had.

 

“So,” she began, sipping her nectar. “Tell me what’s got you drinking without me?”

 

“Just something Emma told me today,” he was vague as he drank more. Killian wasn’t always one to offer heart-to-hearts, and neither was she, but Mal could always tell when he wasn’t being completely honest with her.

 

Was he holding back so as not to hurt her too?

 

“Well — what did she say?” She needed to know, for both their sakes. It was probably nothing. Although Killian’s face didn’t make it seem like nothing — he winced and downed another big mouthful of rum.

 

That left Maleficent hanging for a moment.

 

“Well?”

 

She didn’t do patience well.

 

“We were talking at work today,” he started, only serving to annoy the dragon more. Yes, she understood they worked together. She’d heard time and again how hard it was for him — not that she was being _unsympathetic_ or anything. “Just — general things. Then, she told me, she’s planning on proposing to Regina.”

 

It shouldn’t have. She knew it shouldn’t have. But Maleficent’s heart sank to the floor.

 

Even though she understood there was no hope for her and Regina anymore. Her heart, well, it never stopped clinging on to hope.

 

Dragons didn’t fall in love easily.

 

Maleficent had.

 

“Oh,” she breathed. Killian must have realised she needed something, from the hurt that flashed through her eyes, and so he offered her a hand across the table.

 

Normally she would have pulled away, or come out with some kind of sarcastic remark. She wasn’t a fool. She didn’t _need_ love or comfort — that was Killian, right?

 

Maleficent laced her hand in his, but chose not to look at him. For a moment she closed her eyes, and practically finished her whiskey. The burning in her throat filled the ache in her chest.

 

Was it bad to imagine his hand was Regina’s?

 

Just for a second.

 

Maleficent tried to remember how Regina’s hand felt in her own. How her skin was always so smooth, and her touch _soothing_.

 

Killian soothed her right now, but his skin felt more weathered somehow — _hotter_.

 

She opened her eyes and for the first time saw him. _Really_ saw him.

 

Perhaps it was the heartbreak, or the alcohol, but she’d never really looked at him before and thought she might want to _kiss_ him.

 

“Well — we have to be happy for them, don’t we?” She finally managed to speak, just as he squeezed her hand.

 

“Aye’ love — we should be.”

 

He seemed to lean closer to her, and Maleficent did nothing to stop it. Instead she let her eyes meet his piercing blue ones. She was a dragon, drowning in the depths of the sea.

 

Bravely she leaned in and kissed his cheek. She liked how his stubble felt against her chin. She sucked in a breath, then pulled away completely.

 

“I’ll get another round in — same again?”

 

“No, it’s my turn, a gentleman should buy a lady a drink.”

 

Maleficent sat back in her chair, watching him get up to his feet, and walk a little wobbly toward the bar. She’d never truly seen how impressive he was before. 

 

It was so much nicer to think of him than to think about when Emma would pop the question to regina. To dwell upon how romantic it would be. To think about any upcoming wedding, and how it should have been her seeing how stunning Regina looked, walking down the aisle.

 

No — she wasn’t going to get jealous.

 

She needed to move on too, they both did, didn’t they? She _and_ Killian.

 

He was handsome — very handsome — and it had been a while since she’d had a man warm her bed. 

 

She was almost predatory, the way she looked at him — she’d only had _one_ drink! There was no excuse as to why she was acting like this, only her own desire.

 

“Thank you,” she breathed as she sat her glass down then took a seat opposite her again. 

 

“It’s a pleasure Dragon — I quite enjoy your company.”

 

Dragon? He’d never called her that before. It was cute, endearing even, and Maleficent wasn’t quite sure if he was flirting with her.

 

“I enjoy yours too — Pirate,” she smirked, then leaned forward, taking her glass in her hand. “How about a toast? To Emma and Regina’s happiness — and finding our _own_.”

 

That was the most important part.

 

However much it hurt for either of them. It didn’t do to dwell on people. She’d done so once with Briar Rose, but she wasn’t going to do it over Regina.

 

Killian met her glass with his own, and they drank again.

 

“To happiness.”

 

No sooner had she set her glass back down he was upon her, and it really wasn’t unwelcome. 

 

Killian took her hand again, and this time when he leaned closer, he met her lips with his own.

 

A _kiss_.

 

Their first kiss.

 

It was new and exciting and meant they didn’t have to be lonely anymore, right?

 

Maleficent opened her eyes when he pulled away, she hadn’t even realised she’d shut them. This time it was her to squeeze his hand as he spoke.

 

“Want to get out of here?”

 

She raised an eyebrow.

 

“Are you propositioning me Pirate?” She asked, unable to hide her smile. Maleficent found she wore her feelings well around him.

 

Killian understood her.

 

“Aye’” he answered simply snd laughed.

 

They didn’t have to fall in love. This didn’t have to mean anything more than what it already was.

 

“Alright.”

 

With that she finished her drink and stood, putting on her coat again. He was gawping at her.

 

“Well then Pirate — are we going or are you going to waste my time?”

 

That snapped him out of his trance soon enough, and Killian got up.

 

“Lead on Dragon.”

 

And lead on she would.

 

At least for tonight.

 


	2. Chapter 2

They’d walked for a time. Linked together, arm-in-arm, anybody would have thought them to be a couple.

 

When Killian joked, Maleficent laughed wholeheartedly.

 

And when Maleficent smiled, he smiled too.

 

The cool night air seemed to sober them up by the time they got to the docks, and stepped on board The Jolly Roger.

 

“Rum?” Killian offered her straight away. As soon as they stepped into his small captain’s quarters.

 

“I suppose — since you don’t have taste it’ll have to do,” she was joking now, and he actually laughed.

 

At least they weren’t thinking about Regina or Emma. 

 

At least they were moving on.

 

“Now don’t get me started about taste,” he poked fun at her, as he poured her a glass. “Some of the things _you_ eat Love — raw meat.”

 

Maleficent raised an eyebrow at the way he shuddered. However playful it was, she couldn’t help but lick her lips.

 

“It’s hardly raw,” she rolled her eyes as she slipped off her coat, she hung it over a chair then perched herself upon it, “I’m a dragon — I _enjoy_ hunting.”

 

He handed her the glass, laughing yet again,

“And I’m a pirate — I enjoy drinking rum and hunting for treasure.”

 

She smirked,

“Well the latter is something we can agree on I suppose.”

 

As she took a sip of the alcohol she winced, which only served him to laugh harder.

 

“I thought you were an _almighty_ dragon.”

 

Mal glanced up to see he’d taken off his coat too, and had unbuttoned his shirt. Her eyes went straight to where his chest was exposed, and she felt a blush creep to her cheeks.

 

It’d been years since she’d desired a man, and as well, she _shouldn’t_ have desired her _friend_.

 

Killian cleared his throat,

“Ahem — my eyes are up here.”

 

She snapped said eyes up to meet his, and drowned again in him. His gaze was so deep, even when he was being funny.

 

“What?” She tried to brush it off playfully. “Can’t a girl _look_ Pirate?”

 

Did he like that? She wondered, since he hadn’t stopped smiling.

 

“Oh you can look all you like.”

 

Killian was almost teasing as he opened his shirt fully, then pulled up a chair so he could sit opposite her. Astride the chair, arms leaning over the top, hands cupping his rum, he watched Maleficent intently.

 

Mal just took another swig of her own rum, so she could calm her nerves.

 

The last person to make her feel this flustered had been Regina. 

 

There she went, thinking of her _again_.

 

“So — tell me more about _your_ treasure?” Killian brought her out of her thoughts.

 

“My treasure?” She scoffed. “Is _mine_ — don’t think you’re going to get your grubby hands on it.”

 

Her treasure had long since gone. She’d once had a hoard of things in the Forbidden Fortress. Gold, jewels, anything of value — she had a _weakness_ for pretty things.

 

Her eyes saddened because she thought about Regina again. She had been a pretty thing. She had been her weakness.

 

“Hey,” Killian picked up on that. He put his glass down and got off the chair.  Leaning down he gently took Mal’s glass and set it to the side as well. “Talk to me Dragon.”

 

“Talk to you?” She sighed. They talked before, a lot of times, over and over. They talked and talked and talked about how much they were hurting. They spoke of love. They spoke of their futures. Yet they’d never been this close.

 

“Yes.”

 

Maleficent inhaled shakily, her hand reached up and brushed over the side of his face. Her fingertips traced the outline of his chin, and moved over his whiskers to his lips.

 

“I don’t want to talk about them anymore,” she confessed, because it was true. “Don’t you feel the same?”

 

It took Killian a moment to consider it, but he nodded. Then he leaned closer to Maleficent still — if that was at all possible.

 

“Let’s talk about us instead then,” he offered.

 

 _Us_?

 

Maleficent couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow, but then she found herself nodding too in agreement.

 

“Let’s start wi—”

 

Killian met her lips with his. Unlike in the bar, this kiss was deeper, almost passionate. It took her breath away and she actually moaned against his mouth.

 

“K-Killian?” Maleficent gasped for air, breaking the kiss so she could look at him. “A-Are you sure we should be doing this?”

 

She should have asked if they were _both_ sure. She was flustered, and _confused_ , and her heart didn’t really know what it wanted.

 

“Don’t think about it love.”

 

He kissed her again, and this time she went with it. One of her hands cupped his cheek while the other adventured inside of his shirt, running over his chest. It was Killian’s turn to moan, and the sound alone made her shiver with anticipation.

 

Their kiss gradually turned to more. His hands ran through her hair, pulling it out of its clips, and letting it fall over her shoulders. 

 

Mal briefly stopped what she was doing, so she could see what he was doing. Killian met her eyes as he moved her hair over one shoulder. His hands then gently worked to unbutton her blouse. She noticed however, that was was shaking.

 

“We don’t have to rush things,” she whispered. She wanted him. She did — but she didn’t want half of him. If his heart still belonged to Emma Swan, she didn’t want this.

 

“We’re not.”

 

He managed to unbutton her blouse all the way, but before Maleficent let him take off her shirt, she held both his hands in her own.

 

Then kissed him softly.

 

“I want learn to love you Pirate,” she confessed.

 

It was more than complicated, they both knew it — right? They’d bonded over their messed up situation, and she didn’t want to make it more messed up.

 

“I know. I want that too Maleficent.”

 

He used her full name this time, so she figured he was serious.

 

They kissed once more, and in moments she felt his hands wrap around her, lifting her from the chair. Killian carried her a few steps across the cabin, to his bed, and laid her on it.

 

“You’re very beautiful,” he confessed, and to Maleficent it felt like he was studying her. Not that she minded, far from it. She enjoyed the way his eyes roamed over her, and the way his hands pushed her shirt open.

 

Killian traced them across her breasts, over her bra, causing her to arch her back in pleasure.

 

How long had it been since she’d been touched? Years? _Decades_?

 

“I’m rather glad you think so,” she purred almost, just for him to lean down and capture her lips again.

 

This was almost perfect, the only thing that detracted from making it _completely_ perfect was their circumstances. How they met. Why they met.

 

She wished she had know him before all this.

 

“Can you hold me?” She asked, after their kiss. She hated how vulnerable she sounded, but, she was.

 

And it seemed, she was he.

 

“Aye’ Love.”

 

Killian kicked off his boots, and Mal pulled her own shoes off too. She shuffled closer to the wall, so he could sit on the bed.

 

He did, and of course he kissed her again. They both fell into each other’s arms and as they kissed. Only stopping for air yet again.

 

“Are you going to stay over?” He asked her, and she nodded in response. Turning around so he could wrap his arms around her, and he did.

 

She felt like she ought to quip some joke, about her being taller, about how he should have been the little spoon, but this was _nice_. She could feel him. She could feel _all_ of him. Pressed up against her — her desire hadn’t wained.

 

Yet perhaps it was best to wait.

 

To see what tomorrow would bring.

 

“One day,” Killian whispered in her ear. “I should perhaps like to make love to you.”

 

That caused her to shiver again, and her hands moved over his arms, squeezing them knowingly just for a brief moment.

 

“Then one day perhaps you shall, Pirate.”

 

She hoped they would do that. She hoped it would be _more_ than that. Only time would tell.

 

For now, Maleficent was content to be in his arms, and to forget about Regina. To focus on her own happy ending.

 

So far that seemed to involve a dragon and a pirate.

 

 


End file.
